RIVAL: Donald Trump 'melted down last night'

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) went on his own rant
Friday about real-estate mogul Donald Trump when asked about the
Republican presidential front-runner's
Thursday-night tirade.

"I think he melted down last night. I think this was the turning
point. And I've said that before, but I really believe it,"
Graham said during
a Fox News interview.

Graham, a lower-tier candidate who has
repeatedly feuded with Trump, said he was particularly upset
with the businessman's attacks against retired neurosurgeon Ben
Carson.

Among other things, Trump blasted Carson for his 50-year-old
stories of childhood violence, repeatedly declaring that Carson
has an incurable "pathological temper." Trump even compared
Carson's "pathological disease" to
supposedly incurable child molesters.

"So he's a pathological, damaged camper," Trump said during his
Thursday speech. "A problem. Then they talk about my tone 'is a
little tough.' Give me a break. ... He went after his mother —
went after his mother! Think of this. He went after his mother
with a hammer at a fairly young age."

Trump was referring to Carson's memoir,
"Gifted Hands," in which the retired neurosurgeon described
growing up as a troubled teenager before realizing the error of
his ways. "I had what I only can label a pathological temper
— a disease — and this sickness controlled me, making me totally
irrational," Carson wrote.

Trump also questioned Carson's tale of redemption, suggesting
that the retired doctor simply went "into the bathroom for a
couple hours, and comes out, and now he's religious."

But Graham joked that Trump's comments were offensive enough
that the now famously calm Carson should consider them fighting
words.

"What he said about Dr. Carson — if Dr. Carson was ever going to
hit anybody with a hammer, it'd be Donald Trump after all the
things he said," Graham quipped. "Dr. Carson found
redemption in the Lord. He is a good, decent man."

Graham then turned his statement into a broader critique against
Trump's lack of foreign-policy knowledge and against Trump's
caustic approach to illegal immigration:

Donald Trump is the most uninformed person I've ever met running
for president when it comes to foreign policy. He has no clue of
what he's talking about. He doesn't understand how to destroy
ISIL. … President Obama doesn't have a clue of what he's doing.
Don't replace President Obama with Donald Trump; it will get
worse, not better.

Mr. Trump's view of the world is really pretty delusional when
you look at it. He has no idea what he's talking about. And over
time that will take a toll, I hope. If it he doesn't, here's what
he's doing: He's building a third term for the Democratic Party
in the White House. He's building a wall between the Republican
Party and Hispanics. His immigration position is mean, is cruel,
is impractical. What he's saying is going to hurt us for
generations to come with Hispanics, who should be our voters. And
his foreign policy is even more than naive than Barack Obama.

"Other than that," Graham added of Trump, "he's a good candidate
for president."